Love Never Dies (24 page)

Simon turned his head away, distancing his suddenly numb body from her before lying face down upon the bed, not wanting those searching eyes upon his face.
Somehow, he felt that if she analyzed him too much, he’d be found wanting.

His muffled voice c
ame from the pillow. “Promise me something Julia.”

“What Simon?”

“Promise not to compare me with him too much.”

“I’ll try.”

His blurry eyes met hers.

“Thank you,” he said quietly
, and pulling up the bedspread, placed a strong arm over her bare body and willed himself to sleep.

Chapter 12

It was
the sound of crows cawing the next morning that finally awakened Simon. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and heard the drizzle of the shower splashing inside the porcelain tub from the motel’s small bathroom. Simon moved to the drawn curtains, and flicking them open, noted it must have been raining for a long time. Both he and Julia had slept deeply and all the painstaking work he’d taken with the disguising mud was for naught. His instincts told him he had to move quickly. Simon desperately wanted to join her in that shower and run his hands over her sleek soapy body, but realized that would be just too dangerous. He retrieved his leather jacket and hiding the Beretta inside the holster tapped upon the bathroom door.

“Julia, I need to
check on the Pajero. I should be back in a couple of minutes. Is everything alright in there?”

Her
lilting voice echoed through the closed door.

“Everything is fine. Why don’t you come in and join me?”

“I would love to, but I believe one of us needs to be out in the front room at all times. I hope you understand. Can I take a rain check?”

“Of course,” she laughed through the door.
“Anytime.”

Fortified by her words
, Simon left the small motel room and checked on the 4x4. Sure enough the mud had dissolved and he moved to the back of the vehicle, opening the heavy rear door and removing the single umbrella he kept there for emergencies. He’d just returned to the room when Julia exited the steam-filled bathroom, a small white towel wrapped around her damp body. Simon quickly averted his eyes and took a deep steadying breath.

“If you’ll wait just a moment Simon I’ll get dressed and you can take your own shower.”

I’d appreciate that,” he mumbled, turning his head away, not realizing Julia observed him affectionately. She watched him battle his desire, mistakenly believing she understood why he couldn’t lay with her that morning.

Fifteen minutes later
Simon was showered and ready, Julia placing the soiled articles of clothing into the large plastic shopping bags and dropping the army knife into her purse.

“I added the
Beretta to your handbag; it’s loaded and ready. Don’t think too much about how to use it Julia, simply aim at the largest part of his body and pull the trigger.” Julia swallowed and nodded jerkily.

“I can do that,” she whispered.

“Glad to hear it,” replied Simon, and pulled her to him in a swift strong embrace. “Now I don’t know about you, but I can’t continue without having some food in my stomach. So let’s head down to the Pancake Shack two blocks away and discuss our next move.”

The cold rainy weather made Simon’s leg ache even more than usual as he
shook off the umbrella at the entrance of the very popular pancake house. The heady aroma of hotcakes, mingled with the strong odor of coffee and frying bacon, permeated the air.

Simon instructed the recep
tionist to take them to the rear of the restaurant if possible. Later, ensconced in a bright red vinyl booth, he ordered a tall stack of buckwheat pancakes, a rasher of bacon, and two sunny-side-up eggs. Julia eyed him quizzically.

“That’s exactly what Seth would have ordered.”

He cleared his throat.
“I told you before we were similar in many ways and this is my mother’s old standby. She made the best buckwheat pancakes in the world. I just hope these can live up to them.” The busy waitress brought Julia tea and Simon coffee, and as he stirred in some sugar into the bitter liquid Julia tentatively asked.

“
So what’s the game plan for today?”

“The first thing we’ve got to do is hire ourselves another car.
The second, I need to visit an Internet café to see if I got any replies to the e-mails I sent out yesterday. If I have, I hope we’ll learn of a safe place to hide for a while. If not, I can’t help but think the best bet is to head back to Santa Barbara, no matter how strange that seems. Seth had in his possession a disk, which both Joe Alletti and Angus O’Leary believe you’ve somehow inherited. I personally think Seth would have placed the disk in something he was certain you’d never part with.”

“When you say a disk, you mean a computer floppy disk?”

“That’s right, just a small black stiffy; the kind that goes into the A drive of your computer. What did you do with all of Seth’s belongings?”

Julia shrugged sadly.
“Paul and I went through his clothing and gave most of them, as well as his stereo and some of his furniture, to a local Catholic charity. Your family was Catholic I believe?”

“Yes, my mother was quite devout.”

“All the furniture in the main part of the condo I asked my brother to keep. Seth had donated it originally to the condominium and I just felt he would have wanted my brother to keep it. Do you think Seth could have placed the disk inside the furniture?”

“No, he wouldn’t have felt that attached to just furniture.
Was there anything else?”

Julia thought for a long time.
“Of course! There’s at least one item I know he would never have parted with and after his death, I kept.”

“Yes...?”
Simon let the word dangle.

“I’d given him a sketch at Christmas taken from a photograph my brother snapped when we were decorating the house.
A local artist made an ink sketch for Seth and I had it framed.”

“And what happened to this sketch?”

“I couldn’t bear to part with it so it’s hanging above my bed.”

“Do you believe there’s any chance he may have somehow hidden the disk behind the picture?”

“Well..., it’s certainly worth a try since the only other things I kept from Seth were a few books. I believe there was a
Lord of the Rings,
a copy of
The English Patient
, and some architectural books, but I’ve looked through them many times and there’s definitely no disk in any of them.”

“And his computer?”

“I donated it to the architectural firm because it contained most of his architectural programs. They seemed very happy about it.”

“And his hard drive was comprised during the robbery
,” said Simon, snapping his fingers. “It isn’t there. No—it’s got to be hidden inside the painting. If we find it, we may have given Angus the ability to put Alletti away for years.”

“And if it isn’
t there?”

“I can’t believe that’
s a possibility,” said Simon confidently, watching her brown-flecked eyes closely. “You know, they originally wanted to put you in Witness Protection even though you didn’t have a clue you were in danger. Would you have considered it?”

The appalled expression cl
amping over her face was enough to tell Simon everything. Julia had her family, her friends, her job; she just wouldn’t run and hide with her tail between her legs. That was not the life for her and he cringed inside. Their options were thus limited unless he could convince her otherwise, since Santa Barbara would likely no longer be a safe haven for the woman he loved.

The waitress interrup
ted his dark thoughts by delivering two overburdened plates housing huge stacks of buckwheat pancakes swimming in butter, as well as a generous helping of bacon and eggs. She also thumped down several kinds of syrup and the check.

“Whew,” exclaimed Simon.
“I do believe the service is a bit abrupt here.”

“I wonder if I they have a meter running on this booth?”

Simon smiled back and reached for the maple syrup. It was good to laugh with her, to see the expression of pleasure flit across her face as they both tucked into their hotcakes with gusto. Forty-five minutes later they stood in front of the rental car counter.

“The only th
ing I have available is a Chrysler LeBaron; will that do?”

It was a bigger and flashier car than Simon would have preferred, but he nonchalantly signed the forms and gave the red-suited clerk his credit card.
Julia’s eyes widened, but she said nothing at the alias. Simon’s false credit card was just one of his many surprises.

Whistling shakily under her breath, Julia strolled over and picked up an auto magazine, pretending to read the ratings for the upcoming year’s SUV’s
. Later, seated behind the wheel of the black sedan, Simon retrieved his Dodger cap and tugged it low over his ears.

“How do I
look?”

“Like an avid fan.
I bet you can hardly wait until spring training.” Simon frowned across at her.

“There’s something I forgot to do this morning Julia; something I need to remember to do each and every morning when I wake up and find you near me.”
He reached an arm across the console and pulling her close kissed her soundly on the lips, snatching that brief moment to give her a heartfelt hug.

“I’m here with you sweetie,” he promised, “and I’ll protect you with my life.”

“Because you owe it to Seth?” she asked shakily. Both Hayes boys were mighty fine kissers.

“No, because I
want
to. Yes, I owe Seth many things. I’m glad he found you, but from now on, it’s not any obligation to Seth influencing my actions or feelings toward you. I just wanted you to understand that no matter what happens over the next few hours or days, I want you to trust me Julia, and if you can, grow to love me.”

“I do trust you Simon,” she said hastily, not willing to go any further than that.
She pulled away from him, and clearing her throat, buckled her seat belt. “I’m ready I think,” she said cheerily.

“And if your last bout of driving was any ex
ample, I’d better remain buckled up.”

The
Internet café was amazingly crowded for a Sunday morning and Julia pulled up a chair behind Simon as he punched in his hotmail address and hoped for replies. There were none.

“D
amn,” he murmured under his breath. “Then there’s no other choice, we have to head back to Santa Barbara tomorrow. I think this bodes ill for us Julia. God knows where Stan is and why our e-mails aren’t being answered.”

“Can we approach the local law enforcement agency?”

“That was the problem up in Toronto. Joe had too many of them in his pocket and it was impossible to know who to trust. The fact that he managed to get rid of Seth even while in prison doesn’t sit well with me. I’d prefer to stick to Stan, Angus, and Mandy for now. I guess we’re on our own until we hear from them, so that means we’ll have to make another stop. It will just take a moment.”

Julia waited in the black sedan as Simon slipped into a beauty supply shop.
Upon his return he thrust a white plastic bag into her hands.

“I’m going to pull into the gas station over there and I want you to don that thing.”

“What is it?”

“I’ve always wanted to
make love to a brunette,” chuckled Simon.

“There’s no way!” she exclaimed at his outburst of laughter.

In the dingy bathroom Julia pulled and tugged at the oversized wig, the brunette curls tumbling around her face and over her shoulders. She studied her reflection in the warped gas station mirror. Simon had also purchased a pair of dark obscuring sunglasses, which she placed over her dark green eyes. She literally didn’t recognize herself in wig, glasses, and blue windbreaker, and when she slipped into the passenger side of the LeBaron, Simon gave a low wolf whistle.

“Ow baby,” he howled
, as she punched him on the arm.

“It’s too early to head back to
Santa Barbara right now. I’d rather wait until dusk. Let’s drive back to the motor lodge and I’ll park the Pajero far away, maybe in Sierra Madre or something. You wait in the room until I come back. I paid for an extra day—so we can leave anytime we want this afternoon.”

He parked the black sedan near the Pajero and nonchalantly got out, his gray eyes sweeping the parking lot.

“Let’s go. I’ll walk you to the door just to make sure we don’t have any unexpected visitors.”

The only person in sight was a blue-
uniformed cleaning lady who hovered near the far end of the motor lodge, dumping used towels into her cart’s laundry hamper. Simon nodded to Julia, who slipped the pass key into the lock and waited until the light turned green. Simon edged inside and checked out the room.

“All cle
ar,” he whispered. The maid has already made up the bed and straightened the bathroom. “You’ll be alright?”

“Just fine Simon.
Please... just hurry back.”

“I will
, my love, but it will take awhile since I’ll probably have to walk a ways after I park the car. Maybe I’ll get lucky and catch a bus.” He leaned forward and gave her a gentle kiss. “Stay safe lady. I’ll rap on the door five times, then pause and rap two more times. That way you’ll know it’s me.” He gave her tense shoulders a strong squeeze and headed off as the rain continued its deluge.